Thanks, Dice! Your comments are always welcome whether you remember that much or not. God knows sometimes I feel like I'm playing through this game for the first time all over. It's been ages since I played beyond the first week of May.

So Aigis is a sexbot on top of being a combat machine? This could get kinky, hideous, or hideously kinky. And if she isn't a sexbot and insists on being in Main's room, will she eviscerate any human girl he decides to bring home for a hook-up?

I remember reading some novel about a sexbot who, in a moment of self-awareness, completely eviscerates her "master" as he's trying to fuck her. Not that that's an uncommon premise or anything, right?

I smell an eroge concept! Though I have a funny feeling someone's already put that into one somewhere.

Logged

"Golly, why can't I act right outside of a baseball game?" -Peppermint Patty

I felt that P4 was much more obscure about a "canon love interest"; Rise having it more as a personality identifier (sort of a "lovely idol" than a set-up lover). Mainly because I might be put off by her "not early introduced love interesting" (like 90% of games like to do), but also since her personality (and occupation) marks her as just generally likeable and outgoing, ideal for a "lovers" (and also in that she /is loved/).

So Aigis is a sexbot on top of being a combat machine? This could get kinky, hideous, or hideously kinky. And if she isn't a sexbot and insists on being in Main's room, will she eviscerate any human girl he decides to bring home for a hook-up?

I remember reading some novel about a sexbot who, in a moment of self-awareness, completely eviscerates her "master" as he's trying to fuck her. Not that that's an uncommon premise or anything, right?

I smell an eroge concept! Though I have a funny feeling someone's already put that into one somewhere.

You know, upon thinking about it, I'd have to say I don't actually find Rise to be the "default girlfriend" in Persona 4 for the simple fact that Yukiko is the only girl in the game that seems genuinely disappointed when you decide to stay just a friend.

> Pretty confident in assuming at least part of the idea of the investigation sections of P4 came from that first week of June where you're supposed to help research the ghost story (Even if it is a disappointingly inconsequential part of the game)

> Two characters with white lipstick are two too many. Ick.

> When you sneak into the school at night, it's super fun messing with Yukari, not only with dialogue options but with trying to go anywhere besides where you're supposed to. Best is going to the bathroom.

> Though their designs aren't particularly clever, the sense of scale the game achieves with the Emperor and Empress shadows is amazing. Too bad the fight is such a throw-away introduction to Fuuka's abilities.

> Speaking of which, I still find it strange that she just happens to suddenly know the purpose of an Evoker. I'm going on the assumption that she just happened to watch Akihiko and gang fight some Shadows as they were leaving Tartarus.

> Going further down that path, if Atlus is so insistent that Persona 3 and 4 take place in the same world, then are the Evokers even really needed? I can see them helping some to awaken to their Persona, but every time you call on it? (If this is addressed in PQ, no spoilers please!)

> Fuuka's just an okay character in my opinion. She doesn't have a particularly strong personality, and her VA while decent enough is clearly out of her league alongside the other characters' performances. At least her scarf is pretty fabulous!

> While Mitsuru is an annoying hardass outside of battle, she's quite the badass *in* battle. Her critical strike is just a joy to watch, and she doesn't mess around when it comes to exploiting enemy weaknesses like the others.

> I really like the side story of Stalker Girl vs. Jerkface. Probably because it's pretty much the only non Social Link NPC story that's even mildly entertaining to follow. One of the things that P4 did amazingly well. I genuinely want to keep abreast of what happens to almost every NPC you encounter in that game.

> Then of course we have the other major plot development that happens with the introduction of the Supervillain Trio. Lots to discuss about them, but I'll go ahead and save it for months that they're more established.

> Going further down that path, if Atlus is so insistent that Persona 3 and 4 take place in the same world, then are the Evokers even really needed? I can see them helping some to awaken to their Persona, but every time you call on it? (If this is addressed in PQ, no spoilers please!)

They talk about it during one of the routes in Persona 4 Arena. I think it was in this characters route

Time for a slightly lengthier one! This one's kind of funny, because about halfway through the month of July I was wondering how I was going to do an entire entry on the month, but holy hell does a lot happen that second half.

JulyTension, Exposition, and Backstory. Oh my!

> As I mentioned, the first half of this month is kind of slow. Even the full moon event isn't really all that interesting.

> I did have a happy moment when I went to turn in one Persona fusion request and had already fulfilled the following one as well.

> It's kind of hilarious to see the difference between "fanservice" then and now. Nowadays, that tiny shower scene with Yukari would have been drawn out a lot more and left a little less to the imagination.

> "Break the Mirrors!" "That wasn't the right mirror!" Well, you didn't say break only *some* of the mirrors.

> It's an objective fact that Junpei gets the best character arc in the game, with Yukari at a close second. And both start with either character having a passive aggressive hissy fit toward one of the other SEES members. Still, Junpei's minor breakdown in front of the movie theater is a perfect example of why I like his character so much.

> In fact, it's easy to miss, but after exams there's a day Junpei isn't in the common area and if you go investigate his room , he's busy getting pissed at himself for doing so poorly. It's a bit heartbreaking, actually. Completely flips the "lazy slacker" stereotype on its head.

> Instead of needing your social stats at the max to start relationships with the three main character social links, they should have done what they did in P4 and just required higher and higher social stats to progress the relationship.

> Yakushima! I love that the game gives you some semblance of control during the events instead of just a long series of cutscenes.

> I do find it a little strange that when confronted by Yukari, Mitsuru says that Kirijo was trying to use the Shadows as an energy source, and then at Yakushima her Dad mentions they were being used to manipulate time. It's never really made clear if this was news to Mitsuru, or if she just thought she was giving the simplified explanation.

> Another point towards Yukari as the canon love interest is the scene on the beach after Yukari leans about her father. There's almost a romantic moment that is predictably interrupted as Junpei goes to fetch them back.

> Love the use of the mission music during the beach "operation." Hate the last joke, which was just lazy and low brow. Not that the girls' introduction to Aigis was pulled off any better. Ikutski being needlessly obtuse about the nature of the "weapon" that escaped feels far too forced.

> I wish one of the options when Junpei comments about Aigis being cute was "Dude, that's creepy!" The only thing cute about Aigis is her battle victory pose, which I fully admit is adorable.

> I forgot what a smarmy little brat Ken is.

> I like the idea behind training for the tournament in whatever sport team you join. It's nice the game explores your social links a bit outside of the social link stories themselves. I hope they explore this idea a bit more in P5.

> I do find it a little strange that when confronted by Yukari, Mitsuru says that Kirijo was trying to use the Shadows as an energy source, and then at Yukashima her Dad mentions they were being used to manipulate time. It's never really made clear if this was news to Mitsuru, or if she just thought she was giving the simplified explanation.

I'm guessing Mitsuru was dodging the question. She does that a lot before Yakushima.I mean, the Kirijo group wouldn't care about an energy source since they are already stinking rich and powerful.

Finished August on Thursday, but then had a very long weekend of house hunting, so forgive me if this isn't quite as detailed as past months.

AugustHow I Spent My Summer Vacation

> First, a few comments I forgot from July

>Final Fantasy 8 could really use a lesson from this game in how to connect multiple main characters' pasts without making it terrible. Rather than having all the characters share the same moment in time and just not remembering for some BS reason, all the characters are connected to each other through various moments in their past, and it's not always the characters themselves that share the connection. I really like that.

> Yukari is still kind of a bitch. "I don't want rumors to spread," she says to Protag's face BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE SO TERRIBLE

> And now back to our regularly scheduled month.

> The full moon missions never really quite live up to that first one on the monorail. After Fuuka joins the team, the missions themselves are basically "Go to location, kill shadow" and that's it. The excitement is supposed to come from the events happening around the mission itself.

> I did forget how to defeat Justice and Chariot and ended up having to kill them twice. Kind of annoying, but I like that they changed things up.

> I don't think any Persona game has really bothered trying to put any kind of explanation as to why only Persona users can defeat shadows. It's made even stranger by the fact that it's implied Koromaru defeats a shadow without his Persona (otherwise why give him an Evoker-type device if he clearly can use a Persona without one) and this translates clearly to battle where basic physical attacks from Persona users can be used to defeat shadows the same as the Persona's skills.

> Mitsuru: "Koromaru's going to be fine! Oh, and Summer School starts on Monday." FFFFUUUUUUUUU! How does she even have the authority to sign classmates up for that? Even if she just asked Ikutski who does have the authority, what gives her the right!? What's better is how she tries to make it sound like a favor from a friend. "Don't act like we're friends, traitor!"

> Spent most of my Vacation finishing up the Online Game Social Link. Was happy I caught on to what was going on after just the second event, but the ending itself was just as abrupt and lackluster as most of the other Social Links in P3.

> The movie marathon combined with the evening Koromaru walks were a really nice way to flesh out the characters a bit. Actually, I kind of thought Mitsuru redeemed herself a bit, because even though I'm usually not so vocal about it, I generally have the same train of thought after movies (she basically questions the movie logic)

> And with that, Summer Vacation ends with Charm and Courage maxed out for the fall semester.